After updating your password for the umpteenth time, have you resorted to using one you know you\u2019ll remember because you\u2019ve used it before? Have you ever given up on an online purchase because you just didn\u2019t feel like creating a new\u00a0account?<\/p>\n
If you have done any of those things, it might be the result of \u201csecurity fatigue.\u201d It exposes online users to risk and costs businesses money in lost\u00a0customers.<\/p>\n
NIST<\/span>\u00a0says<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0a new study<\/a>\u00a0from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST<\/span>) found that a majority of the typical computer users they interviewed experienced security fatigue that often leads users to risky computing behavior at work and in their personal\u00a0lives.<\/p>\n Security fatigue is defined in the study as a weariness or reluctance to deal with computer security. As one of the study\u2019s research subjects said about computer security, \u201cI don\u2019t pay any attention to those things anymore\u2026People get weary from being bombarded by \u2018watch out for this or watch out for\u00a0that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe finding that the general public is suffering from security fatigue is important because it has implications in the workplace and in people\u2019s everyday life,\u201d cognitive psychologist and co-author Brian Stanton said. \u201cIt is critical because so many people bank online, and since health care and other valuable information is being moved to the\u00a0internet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf people can\u2019t use security, they are not going to, and then we and our nation won\u2019t be secure,\u201d Stanton\u00a0said.<\/p>\n